Will McClay says he's staying, Cowboys now need to give him a canvas

Earlier in the week, vice president Stephen Jones hinted that he strongly felt Cowboys director of personnel Will McClay was going to rebuff the overtures from the Houston Texans for their vacant general manager gig. Wednesday, word came down directly from McClay he is not going to speak to the Texans about their position.

Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay said he has officially declined a chance to interview for the Houston Texans’ general manager job. The Texans were granted permission to speak with McClay, but he has opted to remain with the… https://t.co/ed8i5rVtOC

The concern over McClay leaving the Cowboys to eventually “be the man” is real. McClay wields great power within the Dallas organization, but he is not the final say-so on football decisions and likely never will be under the Jones family.

However, the Cowboys presumably compensate McClay at a similar level to GMs across the league. (He’s turned down other offers before and once was annually getting bumps in working titles.) He essentially functions as one of three final decision makers alongside Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett. McClay is also very comfortable in Dallas, where he is a devoted family man. The one thing Dallas doesn’t give McClay that he could get somewhere else is the ability to spend money.

Over the last five seasons, the Cowboys have refused to spend money on big-ticket free agents. It’s true free agent deals can cripple a team when they don’t work out, but handcuffing a talent director makes little sense if you feel you have a talent director worthy of keeping from going to other teams.

Last year we argued limiting McClay’s wheelhouse to free agent bargains and smart buys was holding the team back, especially on defense. There are free agency gems to be found. Look at the Giants in 2016 or the Jacksonville Jaguars this season. Teams certainly fail at free agency, but if a team never plays, it’ll never win.

It’s time the Cowboys returned to the days when they were players in the free agent market.

McClay receives accolades for finding the George Selvies and David Irvings and Benson Mayowas of recent vintage. Wouldn’t it be a safe wager he also has the chops to navigate the top end of the free agent market with similar savvy?

Dallas knows how to carve out salary cap space, let McClay return Dallas to their past ways and go buy the finishing piece or pieces to this championship puzzle.

A year later, Dallas regressed from what seemed like the beginning of a long run as an NFC powerhouse. Depth was the issue. The Cowboys have saddled McClay with short purse strings in an organization that has deep pockets. Despite the joy that comes with working for Dallas, that has to be frustrating and make outside offers more attractive.

Before the cap rose, the book on NFL free agency was that it was usually a bad idea. Sports Illustrated wrote just three years ago that some big-spending teams had learned that “shelling out cash to players who are nearing their 30s can end up backfiring in spectacular fashion.” That has changed—and quickly. All the room to spend has changed the way teams think about money. Multiple league executives, coaches, and experts told me that it is changing the way teams are built at an unprecedented pace and turned free agency from a last resort into a legitimate team-building strategy, like it has in other sports. Except, unlike the NBA, which had its massive cap spike two years ago to much fanfare, the NFL’s spike has been gradual. That means if you weren’t paying attention, you might not have noticed that the game changed.

There is enough room under the exploding salary cap to pay your own stars and sign free agents from other teams. The issue is when you also pay your own guys that don’t move the meter much, such as Terrance Williams’ four-year deal signed last year.

Dallas has done these things partially because it knows it isn’t going to go out and sign any big-ticket players in the offseason. It needs to change this approach.

The public will likely never have a clue why it took the front office so long to make an offer. Whatever roadblocks kept Dallas from being taken seriously before Weddle’s deadline could also be derailing its chances to bring in talent.

Dallas hasn’t closed deals on any high-pedigree targets over the last five years. Eventually McClay will find his way to a situation that allows him to make those risks and reap rewards. It’d be a shame if he left Dallas without ever getting that shot.

Give that man the full canvas to paint his organizational masterpiece.

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